Four students have travelled about 11,000 miles to visit a north-east university to learn more about pharmacy in Scotland.
Nawwar Alshawi and Tyler Fenton, from the University of Tasmania, visited a number of locations across Scotland during a six-week trip earlier this year, including community pharmacies, hospitals and prescribed clinics.
They also spent time at Robert Gordon University (RGU), where the toured various facilities and saw the university’s academics in action.
During their time in Scotland, Nawwar and Tyler had the opportunity to note the similarities and key differences between pharmacy practice in Scotland and Australia. Tyler even took the opportunity to run up Ben Nevis.
The pair’s time at RGU was overlapped by a visit to the university by Kathleen MacMillan and Carl Mopoho from Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia.
Kathleen and Carl spent two weeks visiting different hospital pharmacies and community pharmacies, while working with Dr Vibhu Paudyal, lecturer in pharmacy practice and clinical pharmacy, on a joint research project.
The project involved investigating aspects of self-care amongst homeless people in Aberdeen. The students worked on data sets collected from 28 individuals and were commended for their work.
They also designed a poster that was successfully displayed at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society annual conference, which took place in Birmingham in September.
Kathleen MacMillan said: “During our time in Aberdeen, Carl and I were made very welcome and we were able to learn about several pharmacy topics, including independent prescribing, the pharmacy minor ailments programme, medication reconciliation and antimicrobial stewardship.
“The experience taught us not only about qualitative research, but also made us open our eyes to the world around us. As we walked to work each day, I remember paying particular attention to the people living in the streets and hoping that Dr Paudyal’s study could one day make a difference for them.”
Dr Ruth Edwards, pharmacy course leader, who helped establish these visits alongside Dr Anita Weidmann, said: “All of us in the school were delighted to welcome Nawwar, Tyler, Kathleen and Carl to RGU and we hope they enjoyed their time in Scotland.
“Being able to offer students an observational workplace experience to learn about pharmacy practice in other countries is very beneficial to everyone involved. If we can share important lessons and ideas across borders and around the world, it can only help improve patient care.”
